Shoe-shine kit construction



June 21, 1955 s. M. ABRAMS F-T 2,710,983

SHOE-SHINE KIT CONSTRUCTION Filed May 31, 1951 2 Sheets-Sheet l J INVENgJRS June 21, 1955 Filed May 51 s; M. ABRAMS l. =-T L sms-sum KIT cousmucnqn 1951 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 BY A455 Hale/9M:

' Arme/va United States Patent.

SHOE-SHINE KIT CONSTRUCTION Samuel M. Abrams and Albert Abrams, New York,-

N. Y., assignors to Knomark Manufacturing Co. Inc, Brooklyn, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application May 31, 1951, Serial No. 229,248

2 Claims. (Cl. 265) Among the objects of the invention is to generally improve portable implement carrying means of the character described comprising few and simple parts. which shall be readily assembled as a compact yet attractive appearing portable means of recognized utility,

which shall be relatively inexpensive to manufacture,

which shall provide readily accessibility to the individual implements, particularly in seating of receptacles of materials nested in the vertically extending walls of the kit boxes for maximum accessibility, and which shall be practical and eflicient to a high degree in use.

Other objects of the invention will in part be obvious and in part hereinafter pointed out.

The invention accordingly consists of features of construction, combination of elements and arrangement of parts which will be exemplified in the construction here inafter disclosed, the scope of the application of which will be indicated in the claims following.

In the accompanying drawing in which one embodiment of the invention is shown,

Fig. l is a front perspective view of a complete shoeshine kit assembled to embody the invention.

Fig. 2 is a front elevational view of the improved shoe-shine kit, shown in Fig. l, with spaced apart cans of material seated in vertical nested positions, portions of the box thereof being broken away to expose the construction.

Fig. 3 is a top plan view of the improved box of the shoe-shine kit shown in Figs. 1 and 2 with one can of polishing material seated in a nested position on a vertically disposed front wall of the box, and

Fig. 4 is a cross sectional view of the partial assembly as taken on line 44 of Fig. 2.

Referring in detail to the drawing, 10 denotes a portable implement carrying means in the form of a shoeshine kit constructed and completely assembled to embody the invention. Said shoe-shine kit 10 is seen to include an open top carrier box 11 made of wood or other suit able manufactured or molded materials and is seen to be constructed with spaced apart end wall members 12 rigidly held in parallel vertical alignment by suitable bracing means. As here shown, said bracing means is formed with a longitudinally extending top centrally aligning stretcher brace 13 which provides a horizontally disposed shoe-rest or support and also a bail or handle on box 11.

There is also provided parallelly spaced vertically extending outer side wall panels 14, intermediate partitions 'ice 15 spaced from and extending parallelly between said outer side wall panels 14, and a centrally disposed panel separator 16 all serving as additional bracing means for said end wall members 12, said panel separator being located to extend in vertical relation below stretcher brace 13 to symmetrically divide the lower portion of box 11 into equal sections as is clearly seen from Figs. 1, 3 and 4.

Said end wall members 12 and stretcher brace or shoe rest-handle 13 when made of wood may be of thicker board stock than said panels 14, partition 15 and panel separator 16, each of which is interconnected in its respective position through suitable anchoring end joints, such as blind mortise and tenons shown in Figs. 2 and 3 at ends 13a, 14a, 15a and 16a to provide a rigid structure for withstanding rough handling and usage of kit 10.

End wall members 12 may each be shaped and fashioned to provide a bottom corner leg portion 12a for box 11, and trimmed or streamlined to have an arcuate contour adjacent the top 121) thereof so as to merge the upper surface with said end joints 13a of shoe resthandle 13 as is clear from Figs. 1 and 4.

Said shoe rest-handle 13 may be formed with, or may carry along the length thereof suitable anti-friction surfacing material such as an adhesively attached strip of rubber sheeting 17 provided with serration or cross ribbed flutings 17a as for example shown in Figs. 1, 2, and 4.

As seen from the drawings, open-top carrier box 11 has the lower portion thereof divided below the level of the shoe rest-handle 13 into rows of longitudinally extending compartments, such as rows denoted as 18 and 19 lying between each of the outer side panels 14 and the adjacent intermediate partition 15, and rows of compartments 22, 23 and 24 lying between the central panel separator 16 and each of the said partitions 15.

Each row of compartments 18 and 19 lying between each of the outer panels 14 and the adjacent intermediate partition 15 may be relatively shallow in width, and each compartment 18 or 19 may correspond substantially to half the length of the box 11, said compartments 18 and 19 being separated by vertical subdividing strips 20.

One feature of the invention is to provide one or more portions of the outer panels 14 corresponding to the compartments 18 and 19 with a cradle 14b of edge recess shaped to correspond to a receptacle such as a cylindrical can 21 having a peripheral extending bead 21a and containing shoe polish or saddle soap leather dressing when box 11 is used as a shoe shine kit 10. Said cradle 14b serve to nest portion of the rim edge of the can 21 therein as is clear from Figs. 1, 3 and 4. The depth of compartments 18 and 19 are such as to correspond to the requirement of cans 21, the upper level edge of outer panel 14 into which cradle 14b is recessed may extend below the upper level edge 15c of intermediate partition 15 as is clear from Figs. 1, 2 and 4.

Compartments 22, 23 and 24 forming the rows lying between the center panel separator 16 and each of the partitions 15 may be subdivided into three parts and may be of a width slightly greater than compartments 18 and 19. Each of said compartments 22, 23 and 24 corresponds approximately to one third the length of the carrier box 11, said compartments 22, 23 and 24' being subdivided by suitable means, such as here shown by providing spaced apart cross dowels 25 projecting through center panel 16 and anchored in intermediate partitions 15 as is clearly shown in Fig: 4.

End compartments 22 and 24 may each be proportioned to receive either a conventional shoe brush B or a dauber D with a polishing cloth C wound around the handle of the latter, and middle compartments 23 may be sized to receive between said subdividing dowels 25 a packaged cleanser R, or to support thereon a can or receptacle P with a cleansing and softening material. When said can P is cylindrical in form and has. a peripheral extending bead, dowels 25 may be provided with notches 2Safor firmly seating can P as. is clear from Figs. 2 and 3.

The rows of compartments 18 and 19 may be left open at the bottoms thereof, the latter terminating at a level a short distance up from corner leg portions 12a, that is, above the supporting surface or floor F, so that any foreign material accidentally entering said compartments 18 and 19 will drop clear through and eliminate the necessity of cleaning or be undesirably accumulated.

Rim edge of each recessed cradle 14b, forming the thickness of outer side Wall 14 may be made to accommodate the dimensions of cans 21 so as to bring the peripheral bead 21a within the compartments 18 or 19, and the front face 21b of the can 21 provided with a suitable label L substantially fully exposed in seated position to indicate the contents.

The rows of compartments 22, 23 and 24' adjoining central panel separator 16 may be provided with suitable bottom closure means 26 and as here shown stretching between the bottom edges 15d of partitions 15 to serve as a support for the brushes B and handles of daubers D above the level of floor line Said bottom closure means 26 may be secured in place by mortise and tenon end joints 26a, as is clear from Fig. 3.

From the above description and the drawings the utility of the invention is readily understood. The parts of the portable open-top carrier box 11 after being constructed and built as shown in Figs. 2, 3 and 4 are ready to receive the implements desired for shoe shining service such as cans 21 seated in cradles 14b, brushes B and daubers D with cloths C wound on the handles of the latter placed in either end compartments 22 and 24 and with a receptacle R or can P inserted in compartment 23 all as shown in Fig. 1 to provide a completely assembled kit 10.

With leg portions 12a resting on a suitable supporting surface, such as floor F, kit 10 is ready for use. The shoe (not shown) to be shined is rested on the rubber strip 17 of top stretcher brace 13. Each of the implements, and polishing or cleaning materials are conveniently located for use and disposition as required, each individual implement or material being readily accessible in compact, orderly and attractive arrangement for selective use.

The cans 21, P and receptacles R which may be marked in the well understood manner by suitable labelling L, are each plainly visible since each can 21 or P or receptacle R so marked is exposed in seated position thereby eliminating fumbling around or mistakenly using an undesirable polish or the like.

It will thus be seen that there is provided a portable implement carrying shine kit device of the character described whereby the several objects of this invention are achieved and which is well adapted to meet the conditions of practical use.

As various possible embodiments might be made of the above invention, and as various changes might be made in the embodiment above set forth, it is to be understood that all matter herein set forth or shown in the accompanying drawings is to be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

Having thus described our invention, we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

1. In a portable implement carrying means of the character described, spaced apart vertically aligned end wall members and vertically extending outer side panels secured between the end wall members, a stretcher brace bar forming a shoe rest and handle horizontally extending longitudinally between said end wall members, a centrally disposed panel separator located in vertical relation below said stretcher brace bar to symmetrically divide a lower part of said carrying means into equal sections, a vertically aligned partition secured to extend between said end wall members in spaced relation from each of said side panels and the panel separator for subdividing said equal sections into compartments, a bottom closure underlying at least the compartments adjacent said panel separator, said side panels each having at least one cradle recessed from an upper edge thereof for removably nesting a receptacle in seated position in said cradle to fully expose an outwardly facing side thereof bearing a label indicating the contents, the height of said partitions being greater than said side panels by an amount at least equal to the depth of said cradles to serve as a backing support for an inwardly facing side of said receptacle.

2. In a portable implement carrying means of the character described, spaced apart vertically aligned end wall members and vertically extending outer side panels secured between the end wall members, a stretcher brace bar forming a shoe rest and handle horizontally extending longitudinally between said end wall members, vertically aligned partitions secured to extend between said end wall members in spaced relation from each of said side panels for subdividing the area between said side panels into compartments, a bottom closure underlying at least the area between said partitions, each of said side panels having at least one cradle recessed from an upper edge thereof for removably nesting a receptacle in seated position in said cradle to fully expose an outwardly facing side thereof bearing a label indicating the contents, the height of said partitions being greater than said side panels to serve as backing support for inwardly facing sides of said receptacles.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS D. 107,945 Churchill Jan. 18, 1938 D. 135,270 Willingham Mar. 16, 1943 FOREIGN PATENTS 256,321 Great Britain Aug. 5, 1926 

